The European Parliament is expected to confirm whether it will debate the latest revelations on the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case.
It is understood a preliminary understanding was reached between the majority of political groups on Monday to allow the discussion to take place with an official announcement expected on Tuesday.
However, the Socialist and Democrats group blocked a previous proposal and its leader Iratxe Gracia Perez insisted no decision has been made on a fresh debate, accusing the European People's Party of spreading "fake news".
Labour MEPs have previously warned such a debate could harm the judicial process.
Alex Agius Saliba had gone on to tell Labour TV station One TV: “This is partisan politics aimed at punching down on us at a critical moment, and we tell them ‘over our dead bodies’”.
On Monday, the European People’s Party reinstated its call to debate the findings, accusing the Socialist and Democrats group of “burying heads in the sand”.
Although they could have signalled their opposition, to the latest move, the Socialist and Democrats group did not.
Earlier on Monday, the EPP group said they had reintroduced their request and that it was important to "maintain pressure on Maltese authorities to end impunity".
It said the testimony of Vince Muscat, who has confessed to killing the journalist, raised "serious questions about the involvement of the members of Malta's ruling party".
Muscat had indicated former minister Chris Cardona and ex chief of staff Keith Schembri may have known of the murder plot. Both deny the claims.
In its first call for a debate, the EPP said that more than three years after her assassination, evidence still points to the highest levels of government and that it faced a "profound crisis of credibility in the EU".
Labour MEP denies decision
Agius Saliba in a statement on Monday evening said no meeting of the EP conference of presidents had been held so far although it had been requested by the European People’s Party.
He insisted that no decision had been taken about holding the debate about Malta.
The Labour MEP said that the position of the socialist group remained that the institutions in Malta are working and the only reason why PN MEPs wanted the debate to be held was to harm Malta and possibly win political points.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the conference of presidents had made a decision for the debate to go ahead.